The Joint Technical Architecture

The Joint Technical Architecture (JTA) was developed by the Department of Defense (DoD). It serves as an essential supporting document to the Technical Architecture View for various other architecture frameworks. The purpose of the JTA is to improve system interoperability, facilitate information transfer and processing, and support cost effective commercial standards and products. Implementation of the JTA is mandatory for the management, development, and acquisition of all new and upgraded systems throughout the DoD.

The JTA is a "living" document. This means that it is designed to be updated as needed to accommodate new technology, standards, and optimizations. The newly developed systems must also be flexible and adaptable to incorporate the evolving technology and changing interfaces of commercial components into the current system architectures. The JTA is primarily interested in open systems and other products and implementation with well defined standards. Most of the standards provided in the JTA, do come from the commercial sector. All standards and guidelines must be stable, technically mature, and publicly available.

The JTA provides a minimum set of standards and guidelines for systems of tomorrow, not systems of today. The JTA does not support the implementation of standards and guidelines for legacy systems. However, it is a mandatory implementation for all newly acquired systems and upgraded systems that produce, use, and exchange data to be compliant with the JTA. It is the responsibility of each system component to establish compliancy with the JTA. For those newly acquired and upgraded systems, only those systems that require the JTA services and interfaces are required to be JTA compliant.

The JTA defines interface standards and conventions necessary to achieve system interoperability and facilitate the exchange of information. It defines the minimal governing arrangements, interconnections, and interdependencies of system parts and elements for integration and interoperability. The JTA only focuses on providing standards for what is needed, able to be implemented, productive, and cost effective. If it is found that additional requirements are need to facilitate interoperability, these requirements can be implemented assuming they do not interfere with those already in place by the JTA.